Baylor heads to Houston for Tom Tellez Invitational
Baylor's men's and women's track and field teams will return to action Saturday, making the three-hour trek to Houston, Texas, for the Tom Tellez Invitational. The meet, hosted by the University of Houston, will be held at the Lewis/Tellez Track Complex on the university's campus. Joining Baylor and host Houston in competition at the Tellez will be Illinois, Louisiana State, Texas (men only) and Texas A&M. This year's field is a strong one, Louisiana State boasts the nation's top-ranked men's team. Baylor's men enter ranked ninth nationally, Texas' men are tied for 14th and the Texas A&M men are tied for 18th. On the women's side, only Louisiana State is ranked at No. 7. Action will get underway at 9 a.m. with the men's pole vault, the first running event, the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, will be held at 1 p.m. The last event, the men's 4x400-meter relay, is scheduled for 4:50 p.m.

Last season at the Tom Tellez Invitational
Several of Baylor's top performances during the 2000 outdoor season came at the Tom Tellez Invitational. Keisa Brown turned in her best 400-meter mark (54.64), while two Baylor 1,500-meter athletes -- Karin Ernstrom (4:36.61) and Leah Marbach (4:46.09) -- turned in their best times of the season at the Tellez. Kara Newton ran a season-best time of 10:12.19 at the meet. Two of Baylor's best field event marks came at the Tellez, Eboni Hammond posted a 148-10 (45.36) in the discus, the best discus throw of the season by a Lady Bear. Meanwhile, Lisa Housholder had her best javelin mark of 106-3 (32.38). On the men's side, Ferenc Bekesi (3:51.52) and Blair Mathews (4:04.08) turned in season-best times in the 1,500 meters. Baylor's top three 3,000-meter times all came at the Tellez in Bekesi (8:31.53), Brandon Buhr (8:36.05) and Alex Adler (8:44.21). Baylor's 4x400-meter relay team of Peter Hauser, Zsolt Szeglet, Floyd Thompson and Brandon Couts ran an NCAA provisional time of 3:05.21 at the Tellez. On the field, Jim Autenreith cleared a team season-best height of 17-4 1/2 (5.30) in the pole vault, and Jeff Dacunha had his personal season-best in the long jump at 21-5 3/4 (6.24).

Baylor in 38th season under HartClyde Hart is in his 38th season as the head coach of Baylor's track and field program. In his tenure at BU, Hart has firmly established the Bear program as one of the best in the nation. Since 1985, 16 Baylor athletes have won 51 NCAA Championships, including two last season. An men's assistant coach for Team USA at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Hart has coached eight World Record holders and seven NCAA record holders. In 1996, he was named Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee. That year, he coached Michael Johnson to Gold Medals in the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the Games of the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta, Ga. Hart was also named NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year in 1996 after garnering such honors in 1989. A four-time Southwest Conference Indoor Coach of the Year, Hart has seen 14 of his male athletes finish in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships. He has established Baylor as "Quarter-Mile U." after producing 10 4x400-meter relay national champions and three 400-meter national champions.

Bears drop to ninth in Trackwire Top 25
Baylor's men's outdoor track team dropped out of a three-way tie for eighth to No. 9 in this week's Trackwire Top 25. The Bears opened the season tied with South Carolina and Florida for eighth in the preseason poll, all garnering 28 points. This week, the Bears retained 28 points, but South Carolina moved into a seventh-place tie with Stanford, each receiving 30 points. Florida fell to 10th with 27 points. Indoor national champion Louisiana State assumed sole possession of first place in the poll, the Tigers were knotted at No. 1 in the preseason poll with this week's No. 2 team, Texas Christian.

Bears finish indoor season ranked eighth in Trackwire poll
Baylor's men's indoor track team ranked eighth in the final indoor Trackwire Top 25. The Bears were ranked no lower than ninth throughout the season and reached as high as seventh, spending the majority of the season in eighth.

Kamani takes third in 400 meters at Nationals
Senior Bayano Kamani earned his seventh all-America honor with a third-place finish in the 400 meters at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. His time of 46.20 won the first section of the finals and placed third in the two-section race. It was a personal-best time for Kamani, who was the 400-meter hurdles outdoor national champion in 1999.

Injury keeps Couts out of National Championships
2000 indoor 400-meter national champion Brandon Couts did not get a chance to defend his title at the 2001 Indoor National Championships. The Greenville, Texas, native was sidelined with a hamstring injury he sustained during the 200-meter finals at the Big 12 Championships. Couts, who had already won the 400-meter title, pulled up 70 meters into the race, halfway down the first straightaway, he was able to finish the race, placing seventh. Head coach Clyde Hart said having Couts compete was not wise due to the possibility of further injury, which would jeopardize his availability for the outdoor season.

Couts claims Baylor conference title record
Senior Brandon Couts claimed his 12th -career Big 12 Conference title two weeks ago in winning the 400 meters. That winning effort moved Couts into sole possession of the Baylor record for most overall individual conference titles in a career, breaking out of a first-place tie with current Bear assistant coach Todd Harbour. Six of Couts' titles have come in individual events and six in relay events. Due to his injury sustained in the 200-meter finals, Couts did not get a chance to move into a four-way tie for first all-time at Baylor in relay titles. However, he is now sole possession of second all-time at Baylor in individual event titles. Raoul Howard, Michael Johnson and Corey Williams currently share the school mark for relay titles at seven, while Harbour sits atop the individual list with nine. ... Also, senior Bayano Kamani moved into the top 10 lists in total titles and relay titles, he now has eight total titles, six in relay events.

Roessler breaks school weight throw record
Junior Rachal Roessler placed third at the Big 12 Championships in the women's 20-pound weight throw with a mark of 51-9 3/4. In doing so, she broke her own school record of 49-3 3/4 set last season at the Gator Invitational. Roessler, a native of Lorena, Texas, was one of six Baylor women to earn points at the conference meet.

Baylor men earn third Athlete of the Week honor
Baylor's men's 4x400-meter relay team of senior Bayano Kamani, sophomore Zsolt Szeglet, senior Floyd Thompson and senior Brandon Couts were honored as the Big 12 Conference Men's Track Athletes of the Week for the week of Feb. 12. The group of four combined to post the fastest 4x400-meter time in the world this year at three minutes, 4.50 seconds, winning the open relay at the Tyson Golden Spikes Tour in Fayetteville, Ark. The mark set both the meet and facility record and ranks as the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history and the 11th-fastest time ever in the 4x400-meters. The selection marked the third consecutive week in which the men's honor went to Baylor. Kamani and Couts were both honored in the previous two weeks, respectively.